California opposes Trump administration plan to pump more Delta water

The Trump administration plans to weaken environmental protections for threatened fish in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and pump more water into Central Valley farms, according to leaks obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

The leaks show that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is strongly critical of the Trump administration’s plan.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recently notified California agencies that it plans to pump more water from the Delta into the aquifer south of the federally operated Central Valley Project. It will send more water to farms and communities in the San Joaquin Valley.

The offer runs through January executive order by President Trump and weakens protections for several species of fish whose populations have declined significantly in recent years.

Three state agencies objected to the plan in letters to the Bureau of Reclamation last month, marking a new round of conflict with the Trump administration over how California’s major water systems should be operated.

The push to send more water to farms is supported by a number of farmers in the Central Valley, who have long denounced government policies for agriculture. For years, drivers on Valley highways have seen signs and billboards with slogans like, “Stop dumping our farm water and jobs into the ocean.” Trump has questioned why the state should keep more water in rivers to help “a small fish” like the Delta smelt.

But California officials warned the Trump administration that pumping more water into federal waters would have significant negative consequences for fish and the delta’s environment.

The federal proposal would increase water withdrawals in dry years and in wet ones, leading to less water in the delta, which would have “significant impacts on native fish species,” Diane Riddle, a state Water Resources Control Board official, said in a letter.

She said modeling estimates show the Trump administration’s proposal would particularly harm fish during dry years, “when species are already stressed by dry conditions.”

State and federal pumping plants in the Delta, which send water to the state Water Project and Central Valley Project canals, often have to limit operations to leave enough water for threatened and endangered fish. Fish die when large pumps, which are powerful enough Regularly restore the flow of water In the southern delta, they move into shallow water, where they are easy prey for non-native bass and other predators.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife wrote that it is concerned about poor protection for winter and spring run Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, delta smelt and longfin smelt.

Joshua Grover, deputy director of the agency’s Ecosystem Protection Division, said any conservation measures left under the federal proposal are either vague, impractical or not based on the “best available science.”

State officials have warned that in addition to harming fish, the plan could reduce what the state can deliver to the millions of people in Southern California’s cities.

The state’s water project, which supplies Delta water to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland, “could be forced to reduce water exports” because of increased federal pumping, Department of Water Resources Deputy Director John Yarbrough said in a statement. the letter.

He said that would happen because even if the federal government were to promote pumping, the state agency would still have to comply with the federal Endangered Species Act as well as the California Endangered Species Act.

The Trump administration’s plan brings new uncertainty for cities that depend on Delta water and could upend the cooperation between state and federal water agencies that has been the norm for decades.

Yarbrough reminded Adam Nickels, acting regional director of the Bureau of Reclamation in California, that state and federal agencies “have a long history and shared interest in working together to maximize California’s water supply while also legally protecting the protected environment.”

The differences between Newsom and the Trump administration raise questions about the fate of joint state-federal efforts including the so-called voluntary agreements, a plan supported by Newsom that gives water agencies more incentive to comply with Delta water regulations. If the federal government is no longer a willing partner, it will question the plan.

The federal plan is called Action 5. Yarbrough urged the Trump administration to “review Act 5 and comply with legal requirements on environmental reviews, endangered species restrictions” and an agreement that has been building coordination between state and federal agencies for decades.

Trump similarly tried to change California water regulations and policies during his first term. But when his administration Adopted water regulations In Delta, California, environmental protections have weakened and conservation groups have successfully challenged the changes in court.

That cleared the way for the Biden administration last year, working in tandem with the Newsom administration Adopt new laws To operate California’s main water supply system, which is the largest in the world.

In his Jan executive orderTrump criticized what he called California’s “bad” policies and “mismanagement” of water, and directed federal agencies to cancel the plan that the Biden administration approved.

Environmental and fisheries groups have also criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to take more water from the Delta, saying it is aimed at political backers in the agricultural industry prioritizing the needs of other water users and the health of waterways and fish.

“The restoration agency is cutting protections for salmon and other species that are struggling,” said Barry Nelson, of the Golden State Salmon Assn. , a non-profit group representing fishing communities.

“Some salmon runs and other species are on the brink of extinction, and commercial salmon fishing in California has been closed for three years,” Nelson said. “Cutting off already weak protections would be devastating.”

Noting that Newsom has stood up to the Trump administration on other issues, he urged the governor to file a lawsuit “to prevent this clearly illegal federal decision.”